Wednesday, May 19, 2010

26 going on....20??

When I was younger, 14, 15, 16 etc., I always got told I looked 21, 22, 23...which at the time I loved, of course, not as much as my parents ;). I always felt older than I was too. I dated older guys, had older friends and was often told I was mature for my age when people found out how old I really was.

Now that I am older not much has changed. I am married to a guy that is six years my elder, and I don't necessarily feel older than I am, but I feel like I'm still pretty mature for my age, or at least for the age people think I am. Now that I am passed my early 20's I get told I look younger ALL the time. Which I suppose is fine, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it more when I'm 30+, but being that I have owned my own business for 4 years now, it would kind of be nice to at least look my age. People look at me and think I must just be starting out cause I'm so young, so how could I have possibly been doing this for very long?! They are shocked when I tell them this is my fourth year in business. Not to mention I have a younger sister that people always think is my older sister....she's 20! So if I'm the younger one, how old does that make me??

I met with a client a few weeks ago who looked to be in her mid 40's, as we were talking she made mention of her 3 children, the oldest being 18. She then talked about her wedding date, being on September 18th, and I mentioned to her that that was 2 days after my birthday. She looked at me with all sincerity and said "oh really?! How old are you going to be....20?"

I told her I am actually turning 27 and her eyes about popped out of her head! The whole time I'm thinking, "great, this lady is sitting here with me trying to decide if she wants a girl SHE thinks is barely older than her oldest child to photograph the most important day of her life". It's a good thing I told her my husband is going to be 33 AFTER I told her my age. Could you imagine the look I would have got then, if she thought I was still 19?! haha

So, alas, for now I guess I am a 26 year old in a 19 year old's body, trying to prove myself in a world where people don't take youth all too seriously and in an industry where it pays to have experience under your belt. Hopefully as I continue to get older, this whole thing will pay off....

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I booked her wedding.

In a completely unrelated post, Rob and I took the Chevelle out last weekend for a little Sunday drive. We went up American Fork Canyon and took some pictures, here are some shots from the day.








Thursday, May 6, 2010

Saved by the....Chevelle

So the other night Rob and I went over to my parent's house to visit after dinner. They live in Saratoga Spring, Ut and there is a long stretch of road to get to their home that was recently widened from a two lane to a four lane road. EVERY time I drive down that road I see several cops, without fail.

So, it was no surprise that as we were driving back we were side by side with a police car. Now we weren't speeding or anything like that so it should have been fine, except for the fact that we were in our yet-to-be-registered Chevelle with Mississippi plates. Sure enough, the cop ran our plates and within seconds his lights were flashing. Rob looks over at me and tells me the he had forgotten the bill of sale and title at the house. Greeeeaat!

The cop comes over to Rob's side of the car and says "ok, so what we need to do is get side by side, and wait til no one's around", joking that he wanted to race us. Rob was oblivious and thought he was saying we were going to need to follow him down to the station. haha.

Then he told us he ran our plates and nothing came up, we explained to him that we had just purchased the car and driven it back from Mississippi and hadn't had a chance to register it yet. Hoping he wouldn't ask for proof of purchase. The cop said that was fine and was impressed by our ride and the 396 under the hood. He asked Rob if he's ever seen how fast it can go. Rob told him we drove Route 66 back from MS and at one point got it up to about 105-110. The cop laughed and seemed amused. He then leaned into the car and said "ok, so after this car you're clear and there isn't going to be another cop for at least two miles. So we'll just pretend I'm not here. You guys have a good night".

So the cop is basically telling us he wants to see the Chevelle in action. So what does Rob do? He floors it! I think we got up to 90 miles an hour before letting off the gas. The cop followed for a minute then turned around once we slowed down and went the other way.

I think that's the first and LAST time we'll ever get told by a police man to speed. It's a good thing we got pulled over by a cop that appreciates classic cars and big engines.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

7 states in 7 days

Today was the final leg of our trip and what was supposed to be an easy 4 hour drive, turned into a very loooong 11 hour journey. We've driven about 2000 miles across 7 different states and seen half the country, when suddenly our luck ran out. I was all snuggled up with my head on Rob's lap, taking a nap on our comfy bench seat, when I was abruptly woken up by a terrible knocking noise in the engine. About 150 miles south of home, right smack in between Beaver and Fillmore... we broke down.

We had the car towed to Cove Fort which was only about 10 miles up the road where they had a small service station that was fortunately open on a Saturday, and the guys were happy to take a look under the hood.

Not knowing what the issue could be, Rob and I had our fingers tightly crossed that it was nothing major. Soon after removing the valve covers the problem was staring us right in the face... a broken rocker arm.

Luckily, this is an easy fix, IF they could find the part. The thing about these 396 engines is that they are no longer in production, so finding a working part can be a bit of a hunt. The shop owner headed out to Beaver to begin the search. Roughly 3 1/2 hours later he returned with the trophy. He told us he was just about to give up after searching all the local parts stores and having no luck, when he ran into a farmer friend who just happens to own several hot rods. Our luck soon returned when he found the exact part we needed, in his barn full of classic cameros and vettes. The guy even told him we could have the part for free as long as it was for a cool car. The shop owner assured him, it was "a very cool car."

So about $200 and 6 hours later, we were back on the road.

With large gray clouds overhead and the sun quickly setting we were worried about hitting more bad weather. But fortunately we were able to make it home and FINALLY get our new baby safely in our garage.

We had the time of our lives on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip traveling a classic route in a classic car.